Ibtisam Azem is a Palestinian novelist and journalist. She has published two novels in Arabic: Sariq al-Nawm (The Sleep Thief, 2011) and Sifr al-Ikhtifaa (The Book of Disappearance, 2014), both by Dar al-Jamal (Beirut/Baghdad). The Book of Disappearance is currently being translated into English, French, and Hebrew. She was born and raised in Taybeh, northern Jaffa, and studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later at Freiburg University in Germany, where she completed an MA in German and English Literature, and Islamic Studies. She works as senior correspondent in New York for the Arabic daily al-Araby al-Jadeed. She is also co-editor at Jadaliyya e-zine and editor of the Arabic page. She is currently working on an MA at the Silver School of Social  Work at New York University.